Eric Bylenga
Home > 68KEmail

IMAP email on 68K Macintosh

Introduction

Mulberry Icon I've been wanting to check email on my old Macs for a very long time, not just POP mind you but something that can properly sync! I've now got IMAP working on my LC 475 which is fantastic.

There is a catch though, I'm using a Linux Box running stunnel to make the SSL connection to Google. Still... It works great! Here's how I did it.

My Setup

Server:

Raspberry Pi 3 B+
1.4GHz 64-bit quad-core
1 GB RAM
16 GB MicroSD
Raspian
Target Machine:

Macintosh LC475
25MHz 68040
36MB RAM (32MB 72Pin DRAM SIMM, 4 MB Onboard RAM)
16GB SCSI2SD HDD
Mac OS 7.6.1

How To

First things. install stunnel on your linux box (I prefer a Debian like distro)

sudo apt-get install stunnel
      

Next create a stunnel.conf config file in /etc/stunnel . Enter the following config below. As you can see this is specifically for gmail servers. If you're using a different email service, enter your own servers in the connect string below. I'm accepting traffic from all IPs on ports 1984 and 1985 from Mulberry.

client = yes
[IMAP]
accept = 1984
connect = imap.gmail.com:993

client = yes
[SMTP]
accept = 1985
connect = smtp.gmail.com:465

Start stunnel on your linux box

sudo stunnel

That's enough Linux work. Next you will need to grab yourself a copy of Mulberry 2.2.1, the final version of Mulberry available to 68K Macintosh.
A copy is available for download at the bottom of the page. I know I'm getting into a grey area, but Mulberry 3 and 4 are now available for free (see link below) so I'm assuming Mulberry 2 is as well? As it was I had a very difficult time trying to find a serial number for it. It's listed here below if you need it.

S/N: W9604831
Key: F23086C4

Set up your IMAP and SMTP settings as follows. You'll need to make sure that your Linux server has a static IP to point your server address to. Also notice that your credentials are in plaintext. This means that on you local network, your credentials will be insecure, however in transit outside your network you data will be secured by stunnel over TLS.

IMAP Settings
SMTP Settings

I got an error the first time I tried to log in with my password...

GMail Error

It appears as though because I use two-factor authentication, I need to set up an application specific password. The answer can be found in the URL of the screenshot.

After this I was able to log in successfully! Here's an image of my list of folders (I'm not going to show you my personal mail).

Mailboxes

And finally, I sent myself a message so I could check using the webclient. Works like a dream!

Mailboxes


It Sends!

Links

Mulberry Mail
stunnel

Downloads

Mulberry 2.2.1 (SIT)

Last Updated: November 7, 2019